1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus which has an expansion support card to connect an expansion card such as a PCI type card, and more particularly, to the structure to support the expansion support card removably to a housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publications No. 2002-280778 discloses an electronic apparatus like a server which handles a large amount of data. This electronic apparatus comprises a printed circuit board mounted with a CPU and a memory, a CD-ROM drive and a hard disk drive. The components such as a printed circuit board, CD-ROM drive and hard disk drive are housed in a box-like housing. The housing comprises a base which has a bottom plate, left and right side plates, a front plate, a rear plate, and a cover which is to be fit on the base. The base supports the components. The cover hides the components by cooperating with the base.
The housing of this type of electronic apparatus contains an expansion support card. The support card is used to connect an expansion card such as a PCI type card, and electrically connected to the printed circuit board. The support card is raised along the side plate of the base, and has a connector on the upper end. The expansion card is to be inserted removably into the connector.
The support card is provided with a metal bracket. The bracket reinforces the support card to prevent deformation of the support card when the expansion card is inserted into or removed from the connector. The bracket is fixed to the side plate of the housing through a plurality of screws. By this fixation, the position of the support card is determined, and the connection of the support card to the printed circuit board is held.
In a conventional electronic apparatus, the support card to receive the expansion card is fixed by screws to the side plate of the housing by utilizing the bracket. This structure requires tightening and loosening of a plurality of screws one by one by using a tool such as a screwdriver, when fixing and removing the support card to/from the housing.
Thus, a lot of time and labor is required to mount and dismount the support card, and the time required for working is increased. At the same time, exclusive screws are necessary to fix the bracket, and the number of components is increased. As a result, the electronic apparatus manufacturing cost is increased.